In Recent News...

I know I have not been on here to post much lately and I apologize!

Pre-read warning..... CAUTION BREASTFEEDING PHOTO BELOW! (just for those who don't want to see breast)

This is a long one... Hope you have the time! LOTS of photos too though!

In recent days we have made a few LARGE changes our lives. And they are revolved around our most recent big purchase!

Here is that purchase.......

It is a 1999 Ford Taurus SE! And so far it has been a complete save! 

1. A huge save on gas! 

We were paying double the gas to drive into town (roughly a 45 minute drive one way) twice a day to get my husband to and from work and allow me to have the other car at home just in case something else happened at home. Now, only one trip for him to go to and from work. And then when I need to go into town for groceries or what have you. Also, it costs less to fill this little car up compared to our van.

2. We both get more sleep! 

We were both only getting around 3-5 hours a "night"(he sleeps during the day and works at night) and then leaving early to take him to work (he was getting there 2 hours or so early every day!) so that I could get back home at a decent time and get the kiddos fed and into bed! And then I could fall asleep once all the kids were asleep and be up around 4:30-5 o'clock in the morning to go pick him up and bring him home and then go about my day with the kids (often after a nap). 

So I have had a little more time to spend with the kiddos!

He decided that Grandma and Mommy's cucumber looked yummy!

He ended up eating most of what we had on our plates!

That is not a "yuck" face you see there!

That is his "oh look a camera is out" silly face! 

The above photo is of one of our new favorite meals before it was baked! Spinach Chicken loaf! and below is the baked product! It is oh so yummy! I have not been able to decide if I like it cold or hot better yet! However, On a zero carb flax bun cold with a little bit of mayonnaise on it, it is to die for! And super filling! 

Next.......

The flax bun I spoke of earlier! This was my lunch one day though. I had a bun with 2 fried eggs, a few cheese slices and some mayo and mustard! It curbed one of my cravings I have had for awhile to make and enjoy a fried egg sandwich! YUM!

Next is the forewarned Breast photo!

Nursing and Giggling! We stopped in a parking lot in town to have a good nursing when we bought the Taurus last week. After we bought the car we went to the insurance company followed by the DMV and then gas all for the Taurus. So little dude was ready to eat! And he could not stop laughing at Daddy! So I took that opportunity to snap a few photos! And this is one of the cutest with his big grin on his face!

That would be my oh so handsome Nephew Gabriel! Hard to believe it but, he turned 6 months old on Friday! Half a year old! (Picture was taken on Friday and posted by my sister and I stole it from here Facebook!) I know I haven't seen him much in his short 6 months as I should! This would partly be because they live 400+ miles away. But I love seeing the photos of him and hope that with time I will be able to visit him (and my Sister) more often. Specially with having two vehicles, travelling just got cheaper! We wouldn't have to get my hubby a hotel room in town so he could ride the bus or his bike to and from work (he has a car now!) And we wouldn't have to board the dog! Because my husband would be home with him! The only expenses would be the gas to get there and back and our hotel there! Sounds like we may need to work out how to get there some time this summer once school is out!

Speaking of school!

Both boys completed their Science class early and were able to advance in to the next grade level! Since they are Grades 1 & 3 the school put them into Grade 2 Science (as well as History and Art) together. We have already sent back the Science 2 supplies that they asked us to and received the Science 3 supplies! So we are set for the summer and next school year! (Yes, I am going to be "that mom" and make them continue some school work during the summer, not every day, but every week!)

My 1st Grader has also advanced to his 2nd grade courses in Language Arts! He advanced at 95% and has completed all of the "set" of classes! We are still waiting on his school supplies to arrive for that class and hopefully we can get started on those classes next week! Since now all he has left to work on is History and Art with his brother and Math by himself for this school year!

I am so proud of both of my school going guys right now! They have worked their booties off! Hopefully their little brother will work just as hard next year! He has been accepted and starts home school on September 4th, 2013!

He is so excited that he keeps asking when his school stuff will get here and when he can start school! I had to break it to him that it wouldn't be here until the end of Summer. I thought he was going to cry. Poor little guy. Wish I could sped up time for him sometimes! LOL

This is my oldest on his first ever day of school!

First day of Kindergarten!

He was so little! He was also scared!

But he did AMAZING!

My little genius!

This photo would be his 2 little brothers hanging out in the stroller while we waited for the bus to show up! They were little troopers and would sit there every morning and when we would get home they would eat breakfast and then play, play, play... It was a simple time! LOL

I wish I had more photos of my older kiddos to share. I need to connect my camera to my computer and get them off there. I have started taking more and more photos on my camera since the in Wal-mart PictureMe Portrait Studio closed down. I am going to have to either take photos on my own or pay a lot more to get them done. My other option is also to have my friend who lost her job when the portrait studio closed take the photos. I would love to give her the money rather than someone I don't know or to a big corporation. When I have to photos on my computer I will be able to post them! The studio closing also got me thinking about how I am going to do Christmas photos for family this year as well and I think I have come up with a pretty neat and fairly cheap idea! Another reason I have been taking photos like they are going out of style!

That is about all I have for now... Take care everyone!

~TTFN!

Recent foods! Yum!

I know I said I would post these awhile ago... So here they are!

These are some of our most recent and oh so yummy meals... I have more photos but have not gotten them on my computer just yet... Hope you enjoy and that it doesn't make anyone too hungry.....

Greek Meatballs

Chicken "Noodle" Soup with Rosemary Dinner Rolls

"Honey" Ham with Cabbage

My Mom's Breakfast "Hash" and Eggs

My Breakfast "Hash" and Eggs

Parmesan Crusted Pork with a small salad and Sweet Mustard Dressing

4 "sauces" I made the other day...
Ranch Dressing - 1g carb per 2Tbs
Russian Dressing - 0g carbs per 2Tbs (family favorite!)
Sweet Honey Mustard Dressing - 1g per 2Tbs
Dill Sauce - 1g carb per 2Tbs (used with fish!)

I saw the following on Facebook and figured I would try it out... It was not as easy as it looks! The dang noodles kept breaking on me! LOL... The 5 year old loved them though!

Just before they started to cook!

On their plates!
They each got 5 chunks of hot dog to start and the baby got a couple that were cut up for him!

A close up! Next time I will need to cook them longer!
The noodle inside the hot dog was still super crunchy!

That is all I have for now. My youngest has decided he does not need to sleep when others do...

~TTFN!

Back in the saddle again!

So, today marks my first day "back in the saddle", the dieting saddle that is.

And I brought a buddy! My Husband has also joined the diet train! Yippee!!!

We have not weighed in yet, but that is because I have not yet put him and his information into the scale yet... Soon!

For breakfast we had a very yummy Broccoli and Cheddar Firtata that I found the recipe for on Egg Land's Best website. I will try to find it again and update with a link at another time. We also had bacon! Mmmm... Bacon! LOL

Lunch was a yummy hand crafted salad! Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, broccoli, scallions(green onions for those who don't know), olives, mushrooms, feta cheese and ranch dressing top it all off with chili powder and pepper! Some hard boiled eggs would have gone great with this salad! (They are cooking now!)

Dinner will be Chicken Continental! Chicken, Ham and Asiago Cheese! New to me, but my Mother had it while visiting my Sister and she loved it. Best bet, I will too! Add some salads and steamed veggies and we are good to go!

When I have them all ready to go I will post photos of dinner! Have to make it and take them and eat it first!

~TTFN!

A Day Out... And in some pain!

Started off my day by poaching eggs for the first time! Yippee.... Not! Turns out, I do not care for them! But, they were on my meal plan for the week and I felt I just had to attempt them once. And I will not be attempting that mistake again! I was not thrilled with the process or the outcome! Here are some of the photos from my breakfast today...

Poached eggs on Tomato, Avocado and Muenster:

Eggs poaching for my Mom!
She likes her yoke more runny than I do,
but I didn't get them cooked enough either... Oops!

My eggs waiting to be poached!
These are "farm fresh" or Spokane fresh at least! LOL

2 slices of tomato, 1/2 an avocado and 1 slice of muenster cheese!

Top with poached eggs, salt, pepper and Paprika and enjoy!

We had to go do our banking thing to do and at the same time my face was still hurting! I managed to keep myself "medicated" but that only helped so much! After the bank we were able to stop by Wal-Mart for cat food, we found they had none as we were getting ourselves ready to be out and about for the day and then I made a quick stop over at our favorite Fruit and Veggie stand! (The name escapes me at the moment but it is in the Wal-mart/Skippers parking lot) The guy there was great and had all my veggie shopping list filled within minutes! I had to modify my Cherry Tomato purchase slightly because he doesn't carry them, but I was able to pick up some Golden's that are super yummy! And I think I got way more of them for $5 than I do of the Cherry Tomatoes at the store! 

Happy as a clam, playing with cantaloupe container!

After the store stops we headed to a park to eat lunch and then the kiddos got to play. Me, I just wanted to sleep or cry... It was a toss up at times! The boys have the park routine down really good now! They help carry the cooler and whatever else we need to the decided eating spot, they sit down and eat all the food they are given and then they get to go play! The baby eats his baby food or nurses, depending on how long it has been since he got to nurse. 

After lunch and play time, none of them wanted to leave!
Thus the glares!

We ended up leaving before I had planned because I looked over to see my oh so sweet 4 year old pushing another child off a toy because he wanted to play on it! I was needless to say not happy about that. When they asked why we were leaving I told them what I saw and that I saw the 2 older boys just stand back and not do anything to stop their brother. They of course denied the entire thing. I guess because I am a Mom I am now suddenly blind! Ha ha... yeah, okay! Finally I got them to stop complaining and just get into the car. This is always the hardest part for them. They tend to throw fits and continue to complain until they think they will get their own way, which is never! 

When I am out with my kids I tend to go a little bit too picture crazy I think! But, Hey! Pictures are memories! And I want to make sure my kids have a lot of really good long lasting memories as kids! I fiddled with my "not-so-smart" phone the other day and created some neat photos with borders and text on them. I posted one of the baby on my last post that is actually the background on my phone right now. I had a photo of all 4 boys and myself, I think I looked HUGE! But that had to change when I found a better picture to put on there. LOL! Yesterday I put my phone into the camera mode and then I turned the Sepia effect on! I love this kind of photo. They always look really good in my opinion. Some of them are blurry because old age started to set in and my hand was starting to shake pretty bad. I took several of some of the same poses, but here are the ones I felt turned out the best out of all of the Sepia Photos I took..... One of each of my Handsome little boys of course.... 

My soon-to-be 8 year old!
Getting to be a pretty handsome little fella!

The 6 year old...
He looks a lot like his Daddy!
Oddly enough, somewhat like My Dad as well! LOL

The 4 year old,
I do not know how to get him to stop making that scared look.
He does it every time you go to take his picture.

8 months old!
I can not believe he is already 8 months old!
He is getting way too big, way too fast!
Love him! 

All of my kids teach me something new each day. How to love, care and just be grateful for everything I have in life. I may not have a large expensive home (a couple more bedrooms would be nice) or a lot of money, but I love my family and I would not trade any of them for all the money in the world! My kids, my Husband, my Mother, my Sister, my Brother-in-law and my new little nephew who will be here in a few short months... I love you all so much and I can not imagine a world without any of you!

As far as my low carb diet goes, I have put myself back on the 2 week induction but I think I will stick to the induction meal plans for a little longer. My mother and I are restarting the current week due to stopping on Thursday because I could not eat. I do all the cooking, so unless I cook the meal for my mom she ends up eating different and in the long run that isn't such a great idea for this diet. I lost around 6 lbs in the last 2 weeks and I would love to lose a whole lot more. In fact, I need to lose a whole lot more. So, I ordered some Zumba DVDs! Yippee! They should be here in the next few days (7-10 days for the payment program)!!! I paid $14.95 for 7 DVDs and a set of 1 lb weights. I get them for 30 days and then if I keep them I make 3 payments of roughly $25! Pretty nifty deal as long as they help me get to exercising and loosing even more weight! The weight I lost the last 2 weeks was with no actual exercise. Walking around a store for an hour is not real exercise in my opinion. LOL However, it is fun to do! I think with that added exercise and the good eating lifestyle I should start slimming down rather well! I know I need to get a full body photo up here, but... I hate my gut and I am not sure I want to show it to the world! LOL. I may be brave enough some day soon. Only time will tell. I think that before it cools off outside I will get a photo taken so that it can be a photo of me in my suit. Those are what you always see people in in the dieting ads isn't it? Oh well, I will think about it and everyone can be surprised or disgusted when I post it!

Chillin' in his stroller chewing on his strap!
As always when he can reach them!

~TTFN!

Preparing for the big baby shower!

With getting ready for my sister's baby shower on Saturday, I have been sort of scrambling around trying to get projects done so that she gets more than one gift from me (which is all I have 100% completed). I was finally able to finish one project the other day, which was a no sew project so it was finished rather quickly. I then started another that I have been working on and all that is left now is the sewing part. Yippee!!!

I wish I could share photos of the things I am working on, but how much fun would that be if my sister were to read this and see the photos... Not much! Not much fun at all. So... Until after Saturday, y'all gotta wait! Sorry! But I promise, I will share with every one what I made for my sister and her baby. My Mother is helping a lot with finishing touches on all these things too. There is one thing I am slightly panicked about, but I am sure that if I do not have it done for the shower, she will get it before the baby gets here.

My oldest son is with my sister now and when I spoke to him on the phone the other day, he was super excited! He always gets his birthday gifts from his Aunt and Uncle early. He spends the time around the 4th of July with them every year (this could be his last year with them though) since they moved up to Washington(5ish years ago). Last year they gave him his own laptop computer (he has been on computers since he was about 4 months old!!!) and he has had a blast with it. One of his favorite things to do while at their house is to play World of Warcraft on their computers. Well, that is what they got him, on his computer, for his birthday this year! Apparently he had been spending all his time on his Aunts computer playing from there but now that they got it up and running on his computer, he is even happier! LOL His words to me were: "Mom! I am playing WOW on MY computer!!! It is sooo cool!" It was great to hear him so excited! Of course, I seem to remember that he had the same sort of response last year when he got the computer! Still, it is cute how excited he gets!

My 6 year old is working on his behavior while his brother is gone, and this is working out well too! My Mother and I discussed giving him 1 Quarter for each full hour he is good during the day. This means that he does everything he is told and does not back talk and is not rude and we do not have to remind him of his manners more than once, if that! He loved the idea! And as a bonus, for each 8 hours straight that he doesn't lose any Quarters, he gets one extra Quarter! The most he has made in one day I believe is 13 Quarters and this has only been going on for 3 days! LOL and we told him we would keep up this earning money thing for the entire time his older brother was out of town and that he is not allowed to spend any of his money until we go to Portland for the Baby Shower! The reason we went with 8 hours is because that was about how long he was away from home and working on his behavior while in school. From the time he left home, until he came back home each day. He has been doing great. Most of the time all we have to do is remind him that he will lose the Quarter if he acts up and that snaps him back into good behavior real fast. He wants to earn the money and he truly wants to be a good kiddo! He has had his moments, he lost 2 quarters ion a row tonight. So, see, no kid is perfect! Ha ha! He also did not enjoy his second week of camp as much as his first. He said his Dinosaur class was boring. And I would have to agree. The dinosaur teacher did not seem as enthused as the twisty tales teacher did. And this kiddo has decided that he wants to be a Paleontologist when he grows up and I think that is AWESOME!!! But oh well, win some and lose some! Not all teachers can be #1, that would defeat the purpose! LOL!

The 4 year old has been sort of being his normal crazy and wacky self! But that is him! He has decided that he does not like our bigger pool again this year and that he does not want to get into it. I wish I could get him to realize how much fun it is and keep him calm. I almost had him there the other day but he just kept yelling in my face to let him out of the pool, so I did. Other than the pool thing yesterday he has been good and taking all his medicines and he even stays on top of it! I guess the kid likes to feel well rather than sick all the time. Go figure! Since his most recent doctor visit, he has had less of an issue with his allergies. Of course, he has a mommy who gives him allergy medicines and his inhaler like they are his life support! Which is how it should be, because they are. And this kid is the easiest as far as taking his medicine. He sits there and breaths in on his puffer machine for his inhaler and then picks up the allergy medicine and takes it and then puts his head back and is ready for his eye drops, they go into his eyes and his blinks away the extra stuff and he is good to go!

The baby, he is still low on the growth charts, but someone has to be there! Last doctor appointment he had they said he was still below the 10th percentile for weight but he was shooting up there on his head and length! I know that my son is healthy and happy. He does not have to be a chunky baby... I know a fat baby is a happy baby, but this kid just does not put on the weight like other kids do! I do not know why, he just doesn't. A lot of people have been asking me in stores lately how old he is and when I say 7 months they say things like "There is no way!" or "Is he ill?".... No, he is not ill and Yes, he is 7 months old! Another lady asked his age and after her reaction of "no way!" I told her he was 9 pounds at birth and her reply was the best I have heard ever..... "What is he now, 10?!?!?!" LMBO!!!! Too funny! I seriously laughed out loud at her for saying that. He is creeping up on the 20 pound mark, but not too fast! He is just a happy little baby!

As far as the diet goes, I am stuck on my same weight for a while now. My Mother and I have discussed doing sit ups to lose more belly fat and I think that is a great idea! I also need to start getting up, eating breakfast and then going for a walk with the kiddos (at least the ones who want to join, depending on the day I may go before they get up or Daddy might be home to take care of those boys not wanting to go for a walk with Mama)! I also need to make sure I am tracking my food intake somehow and also need to ensure I am eating 3 full meals and at least 2 small snacks a day! Does any one have any ideas on how I could get going with this diet better? It is basically a low carbohydrate, Atkins-like diet.

Oh, I also found that I am super into the second book in my 2 book series for my BzzCampaign! Being a BzzAgent is Awesome! I just wish I could get on more campaigns! I am only on my second one! I will be posting a review here on both my Kindle Books, The Hangman's Daughter and The Dark Monk, A Hangman's Daughter Tale. I was not too into The Hangman's Daughter from page one. The Dark Monk is another story though, only a few pages into it, but I LOVE it! I am struggling with the fact that I still need to read my most recent Sookie Stackhouse Novel, But I will get to it after the Baby Shower and After my BzzCampaign!

So much for typing up a quick and short blog tonight LOL.... For now, I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and families! I will try my hardest to post some of the pictures of gifts after the shower so that everyone can see my craftier side! He he he! But, like I said, for now... The suspense wont hurt you too bad! Or all least I hope it wont! Until another day....

Baby in his newest on sale Ross Dress for Less outfit!
$2.99 and it has a frog on his rear!
Plus came with the super cute hat!

~TTFN!

Food! And more...

"Egg Noodle" Mac & Cheese!

 Starting out today.... Some of my favorite meals! Yippee! The first is a Low-Carb "Egg noodle" Mac & cheese. Great, not so quick, meal that my entire family LOVES!  We have actually had these about 1-2 times each week for the passed month... It really is that big of a hit for us. Basically, it is eggs, cheese, Lil' Smokies and cream. Plus a few dashes of nutmeg and a few more dashes of chili powder! Yum! Makes it oh so delicious! Even my kids gobble this meal down. It used to be that if we said Mac & Cheese, it meant the stuff out of the blue box... Yeah, you know the kind I meal! My oldest was so bad about it that he would not eat any type of Mac & Cheese unless it was "Character shaped" and out of a blue box! Until "we" (my sister) got him to eat "Spokane Noodles" (or Elbow Macaroni, because that is all they make in Spokane, WA. Or so he was told! LOL) . From then on it was OK to eat "Spokane Noodles" but only when he picked them out at the store because we FINALLY got some delivered to our store! Essentially, I stopped buying the special kinda because it was all they would eat and I would like for my kids to develop taste buds at some point! Now, as the oldest gets, well, older, he has started to try new things and in turn, his brothers follow in his foot steps! He tried this meal first (loved it) and then the 6 year old tried it (loved it) followed by the 4 year old who still has the jury out! The last time we had this meal (last night) I got my 4 year old to try just a few small bites, to decide if tonight was the night he was going to start liking it. Nope! He ate a hot dog and a hot dog bun (separately) and that was dinner (Dessert was Grape Jell-o). What got me started on not really giving the kiddos a chance to "pick" the meal for the evening was when my 7 year old asked if he could have some of Grandma's "Chicken" (it was pork, but we told him it was chicken). This was amazing to me. This child has only wanted to eat boxed Mac & Cheese, cottage cheese, cheese, boxed Salisbury Steak and a few other random things. He tried it, and loved it! Since then, not a meal has gone by where he didn't eat exactly what we did. And he didn't complain.

Pork and Asparagus (Yum!)

My son keeps telling me that he wants to try more and more new things because I really can cook (to his surprise!) Most of the time he prefers my Mother and I's "diet" food to the food he is eating. For example, we were having breakfast for dinner and I had made a low carb Dutch Baby Pancake(oven baked pancake) for my mother and I to eat and the kiddos and my Hubby were having regular old fashioned pancakes. Well, he wanted part of the Dutch Baby and after trying both decided that he really didn't like the "normal" pancakes. We also no longer buy "sugared" maple syrup anymore. There really is no point in having 2 different kinds of syrup in the house when it doesn't hurt the boys to have just a little less sugar for breakfast! This kiddo just never stops amazing me and I am sure that the end of that is nowhere in sight. He is a very bright boy. He even has requested that he get $2 extra on Tuesdays at school so that he can get a second helping of tacos at lunch time. Since there are only a few weeks left of school, why not! This is their last year at a "Brick & Mortar" School. Might as well let them make the best of it, right?


In other news for me...

We bought a printer to go with our nifty Internet capabilities! Woo-hoo! This is actually helpful because now I can just print my sister's Baby Shower invitations from home, rather than drive into town and pay to print at Kinko's! We also ended up picking up a really neat printer too! It has wireless printing, or eprint, so that we do not have to be hardwired into it to print from it. Another cool part to that is that we can email information from our phones (such as photos) to the printer! Well, the rest of my family can, my phone is pretty lame and doesn't send the picture all the way through! (Bummer!)

I tried to get a photo of the printer to load so that I could show everyone, but it doesn't seem to want to show up! So, it is an HP Officejet 4622 series if you want to see what it looks like! (for those who don't know or don't live here! LOL)

I managed today to purchase my outfit for my Sister's Baby Shower. I am very pleased with it. Since the shower isn't until July, I feel accomplished in having one more thing done! Also, I will be able to nurse the baby easily an still look good while doing so! I tried on 2 of the same thing but the green, yellow and blue just looked best on me. I also picked up a new tank that looks great on me! I never would have thought to try on anything with horizontal stripes because normally they make the person wearing them look 20x their regular size, but both the outfit I got AND my new shirt have horizontal stripes and they look great on me.

I also picked up a couple more pieces of material today for a couple more projects. Along with yet another ball of yarn! I have been crocheting something for awhile now and had been debating on how to do the trim. I could have used something that I already had at home, but this just about jumped off the shelf and screamed, "Use me for that! Use me!" So, I bought it! The fabric I found is my new favorite! It has Owls all over it! I keep gravitating towards the Owl water-proof material used to make cloth diapers too. I have no idea what it is about Owls and baby print that has me so obsessed, but I love it! If I could get my hands on many different kinds of Owl printed fabrics, I'd be a Mama/Auntie in heaven! I would seriously dress my 6 month old is all Owl clothing if I thought I could actually afford to buy all the material from the craft store! This stuff is so cute, I can hardly stand it! Now, if I could only win the lotto, I could buy the fabrics and then maybe grow a craftier side and make a bunch of Owl baby gear! LOL! For now, I stick to what I got! I have a few small projects to complete before my Sister finds out the baby's gender in 2 weeks. And then it is all out "gender specific" projects! Some of the things I am making for her and her baby I will be making the "testers" for myself and my baby!

Little Man is 6 months old now!

Speaking of my Little Man! He has decided that this week should be the week to cut 2 more new teeth! His top 2 front teeth started to break through this week and with that comes drool and both him and I have head colds as well! I notice this time around, that when he was cutting his bottom 2 teeth, him and I both got sick then too. Same type of thing, feels and sounds like a head cold. Stuffed up nose and sore throat with a tiny cough to go with it. Hopefully, his teeth will come fast and him and I will both get better. This type of cold is the type that causes you to e extra tired and with 4 little boys, that is an issue!

In addition to everything else today and this week, my Hubby started mowing the lawn! Yippee! I say started, because our ride on mower was broken until yesterday when our neighbor fixed it and got it running again. He was unable to finish because the belt for the mower blades broke! Literally shredded and came off in chunks! Yuck! Not a pretty picture. So, my Mother stopped in at Baxter's Auto Parts in town while we were in that area. They said they would have the part in 1 hour. So, we went shopping. Came back in 1.5 hours and still no part. Left, and went to another store, this time across town. And when we came back, still no part. Found our way to another store and then back to Baxter's and 4 hours later, part was ready! When we got home I took the boys to play at a friends house so that they could swim and jump on the trampoline and I could visit with their Mommy. Also so Hubby could finish mowing the lawn. Well, the part we were in town so long waiting for... Too long... Can't be used! Gotta get a new one! So, Lawn... Not mowed all the way! (sigh) Hopefully tomorrow it can get finished. We will have to wait and see.

That is all for now. Hopefully I can make it back in here to fill everyone in on more "Me Details" sooner than I did from the last post. I will try to start posting a little something even if it is literally a little something! For now... Enjoy your week! 10.5 more days of school left for the little ones! Yikes!

~TTFN

A not so short, short little bit by me....

Everything is listed today in bold, italic and underlined "topics" so that you can pick and choose what you read!

Sorry in advance for the lack of photos. I will try to not leave them out again. I love photos and hope others enjoy them when I post them as well.

ENJOY!

My Diet: I have noticed the last several week/months that my diet seems to be on a flat line. As in, I am not losing a pound from week to week. I think I need to get this part of me under better control. I was "Journaling" on my computer for awhile (I figure it could make for an interesting read one day) but I seemed to have stopped that once I started this. (Here's hoping for my reader's sake's that I never start a new blog without telling them, I may disappear here and be lost in new blog land! Yikes! LOL) I was keeping track of exactly what I ate, how many carbs were in each and every meal and every part of that meal. Such as; if I ate a salad I listed every single thing I put into it and that items carb count and then added it up!

I know that not many people would want to read the lists of things I consume on a day to day, week to week or even month to month basis. So, I do not plan on listing my food intake here, but I need to do something to get myself back to losing rather than being stuck. Or even worse, gaining! Ugh. I have lost around 35+ pounds since I had my baby almost 6 months ago (slow down time, slow down!). Only about 17 of that is from this diet though. The rest was all the "pregnancy" weight. I gained well over that during my pregnancy so it feels good to be below my pre-pregnancy weight. 

Deliveries of the package kind, not the baby kind: I have been waiting and waiting for my BzzKit from BzzAgent to arrive so I can test out the super cool Dr. Scholl's For Her High Heel Insoles. My mother went and picked up the mail today and brought back a package. Sadly, it was not my BzzKit. But thankfully, it was another package we were waiting for! My Husband's Aunt recently went to Florida and offered to buy our family T-shirts while she was there. (She really is one o the neatest Aunties in the world! I love her to pieces.)She sent me a bright pink shirt that I absolutely love since pink is my favorite color. and the hubby and all 4 boys each got a shirt as well. The baby however got 2! LOL. He will have to grow into them but that is OK. It is the first "way too big to fit" thing he has gotten. I will post photos after I get them de-tagged and washed! One of them says "LIFEGUARD" on it and is red... too cute. Another is neon orange. I completely love them!

Online browsing, cloth diapers: I spent a lot of time today looking into cloth diapers. I guess simply looking for see if I could find any super cheap ones or even any companies that are giving away free cloth diaper samples or things like that and I entered a few contests to try to win some of them. I would love to do this. Specially after seeing all the super cute ones my sister has gotten and the fact that they have gotten super easy to do from back in the day when they were all the "fold your own" type. I love the All-in-One kind that you basically slap the thing on the kiddo and go. But I think I would prefer the pocket style. I am not sure since I do not own any. I even posted a craigslist ad as well in hopes that someone may donate to myself and my sister. And I even stated there that I do not care if they are pink! I will for sure put a boy in pink. I have no issue with that. (My 6 year old is the one who hates the color pink for boys and I have no idea why.) I tend to stray far from dresses on my baby boys, but pink is alright! I know how hard it is to afford diapers when 3 to 4 adults are working to make ends meet but now that only 1 person has a job, diapers will be even harder to afford. I would like to take as much stress off my family as possible and I wouldn't mind using the cloth diapers on little man. Also, I know this is something my sister will be using and she is getting all my boys' old clothes no matter what she is having. And to be honest, I will probably use any older looking items I get and leave the newer looking stuff for my sister that I get. But, I am not as "crafty" as she is and I do not think I could make my own cloth diapers like she can/does.

Plants: I started a "garden" inside last year. it consisted of a couple types of flowers, tomatoes, bell peppers and parsley. Well, all of the plants were taken outside except the parsley. I believe I have posted photos of it here recently. Now the plant is too tall to take photos of the entire thing! I would say that the entire plant stands roughly 7-8 inches tall and has started to sprout off of the other parts of the plant. I will attempt to keep better record of the plants growth as it was my first attempt at planting anything other than pre-grown flowers bought at the store! Even those never lasted long! This baby is growing though and just in the last month! Maybe it got jealous of the huge Avocado tree growing next to it (which appears to be waiting for the parsley to catch up!)

Well, that  is all for tonight. I am pretty tired and think that I can hold off until tomorrow to type a bit more! As always, I hope everyone out there is happy safe and healthy! 

Until next time....

~TTFN